Country Profile: Slovenia

• Country Size: 20,273 km²
• Citizens: 2,123,949 (2024) | Tendency: falling
• GDP per capita: 34,089.4 $ (2024) | Tendency: rising
• EU Innovation Scoreboard: Moderate Innovator (2025) | 106.6%
• BEDA Member Organisation: Faculty of Design, Independent Higher Education Institution (HDMI)

Dedicated design policy status

No

Design in other policy agendas

• CCI Strategy – The Resolution on the National Culture Programme 2024–2031 contains a full section on design. It commits to co-financing projects by NGOs and self-employed designers, developing professional foundations, supporting digitalisation and young creators, and promoting the use of design in other sectors. It also stresses export readiness, internationalisation, and raising public awareness of design’s societal role. [Championed]
• Innovation Strategy – The Resolution on the Slovenian Scientific Research and Innovation Strategy 2030 mentions design only as an indicator (“design applications”). [Mentioned]
• Industrial / Development Strategy – The Slovenian Industrial Strategy 2021–2030 includes a paragraph on design’s relevance to competitiveness and explicitly refers to “circular and digital by design” principles, design management, and co-design approaches. [Integrated]
• Circular Economy Strategy – The national roadmap towards the circular economy highlights circular, eco-, and modular design as key principles. [Integrated]
• Digital, architecture strategies – No strategies or references to design were identified. [Overlooked]

Observations

Slovenia illustrates how design can be embedded across a range of policy domains, from cultural and industrial strategies to circular economy planning. The cultural programme provides a strong foundation, combining sectoral support with a clear ambition to expand design’s role in society, education, and exports. Industrial and circular economy policies further reinforce design as a tool for competitiveness and sustainability. Taken together, these initiatives suggest a policy environment that increasingly values design as both a cultural asset and a cross-sectoral enabler, with momentum building around its internationalisation and systemic impact.

Sources

• Resolution on the National Culture Program 2024–2031 (ReNPK24–31), o. J.
• Šooš, 2017
• Slovenian-industrial-strategy-20212030, o. J.